Iliana Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 New trophy for UEFA EURO 2008 UEFA will unveil a new trophy for UEFA EURO 2008 on Thursday in Montreux, Switzerland ahead of the competition's qualifying round draw the following day Modern design The new UEFA European Championship trophy is 18 centimetres higher and two kilos heavier than the original designed by Arthus Bertrand in 1960 and named after Henri Delaunay, the former president of the French Football Federation. The upper part of the trophy is based on the original and is also made out of sterling silver. The new trophy, created by Asprey London, will also retain its historical name. to tell you the truth, I wasnt thrilled about the design of the old trophy so I'm looking forward to see the new one! of course, when I saw it live in Kavala for the 1st time...that was an amazing moment! :gr: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plato-ny Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 A reminder: The draw will take place noon, Central European Time, and 6 AM, New York Time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plato-ny Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Commercial content Mr Olsson said he was happy with the commercial preparations for the 2008 showpiece. "I think [EURO] is now recognised as the second biggest [sporting] event when it comes to TV viewers," he stressed. "All our partners are interested in continuing to have a long view of the relationship with UEFA." Good football How will the 2008 tournament differ from 1992? "Figures have changed, but the problems are the same," the UEFA CEO explained. "The interest in a tournament like EURO is great. The most important thing is that good football is played, and that the best teams come. Firmer grip "The huge change for UEFA and the associations is that we have taken a much firmer grip of what is happening - all the commercialisation is done in-house, we are working together with the Austrians and Swiss [within] a fully-owned daughter company of UEFA. So a lot of the conflicts that you had before do not exist any more. We are much more focused and collaboration is easier." Modern countries "I think we are also adding something to the countries, because it is an opportunity for [them] to show they are modern countries for new markets. Everybody coming will find a lot of hospitality and will definitely come back later." UEFA EURO 2008 also gives UEFA the chance to cement the position of national-team football. "The national-team competitions are the 'cream of the cream'," suggested Mr Olsson. "I don't think there is any club football which can generate as much interest as a national-team competition. Supporting one team "First of all, everybody in a country is supporting one team. If it's a club, you already have some supporters, and others in the same country would like to see [the club] lose. That doesn't happen in a national-team competition." Seeded teams Greece are seeded as holders while the other associations have been classified by UEFA on the basis of results achieved in the qualifying tournaments for UEFA EURO 2004™ and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. This means UEFA EURO 2004™ finalists Portugal, England, France, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands are in Pot 1 with big guns such as Germany, Italy and Spain lurking dangerously in Pot 2. New records As European football moves from strength to strength, the 2008 spectacular is expected to shatter the records set by its predecessor in Portugal. UEFA EURO 2004 broke all previous bests: 7.9 billion TV viewers in total, and more than 150 million live viewers for each of the 31 games. The final was seen by an estimated 279 million viewers - an unbelievable increase of 157 per cent on corresponding figures for UEFA EURO 2000. - AND SOME PEOPLE, BITTER AND/OR JEALOUS THAT GREECE WON, WERE SAYING THAT EURO 2004 WAS BORING. WITH THESE NUMBERS, I DONT THINK SO!!! 'You won't find a superior trophy' When the draw for UEFA EURO 2008 takes place on Friday, coaches from around Europe will have their eyes on a new prize. For the first time since the Soviet Union won the inaugural UEFA European Championship in 1960, a new trophy is up for grabs. The new Henri Delaunay trophy has retained the name and style of the original, but has been brought up to date to reflect the scale and size of Europe's most prestigious national-team tournament. Bigger and better "We felt the EURO was one of the two most important international football competitions in the world, but that the trophy was very small and a little bit anonymous so the President [Lennart Johansson] thought we should study the possibility of changing it," UEFA communications director William Gaillard said. "We rapidly abandoned the idea of having a golden trophy - we thought we could leave that for the world competitions. Also, we decided people had got used to the shape of the trophy. The problem was it was very small, much smaller than the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup trophies, for instance. And so we decided to make it larger." Minor changes It is almost an exact replica, though not quite. A small figure juggling a ball on the back of the original has been removed, as has the marble plinth. The silver base of the trophy also had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plinth have now been engraved on the back of the trophy, which is made of sterling silver, weighs 8kgs and is 60cm tall. Classic style The responsibility for creating the original went to Pierre Delaunay, son of Henri Delaunay, the visionary behind the competition. Henri Delaunay died in 1955 before seeing his idea come to fruition, but the new prize is testament to his enduring legacy. Unlike other designs for UEFA trophies, the new-look Henri Delaunay trophy has maintained its classic style. "We've kept it because this competition goes back to 1960, but if you look at some of the other trophies we have they are very avant-garde looking," Gaillard said. "Some of the women's trophies and the Under-17 and U19 trophies, are very stylised, very modern, but this one we just wanted to keep the way it was." 'Focal point' Unlike the original, which was the work of the Chobillon goldsmith and was later bought by Arthus Bertrand in Paris, making the modern equivalent was entrusted to Asprey London. Asprey, renowned silversmiths, jewellers and goldsmiths, have a long history of trophy-making stretching back to the America's Cup, which their sister company Garrard made in 1848. "UEFA wanted to improve on the quality but also the scale of the trophy," Asprey spokesman Steven Maddison said. "They wanted to have a focal point for the event and the trophy they had was fairly small for doing that. 'Higher quality' "We had to keep to quite a strict guideline as it needed to reflect the trophy that went before," he added. "We've enlarged it and tweaked it slightly but the actual style and shape is pretty much as it was. The quality of the metal used is much higher and the workmanship is of a much higher quality. You won't find a superior trophy." The eventual winners of UEFA EURO 2008™ will second that. Greece's Theodoros Zagorakis was the last captain to lift the old trophy in Lisbon in July 2004. Whoever follows his lead will be getting his hands on an even more substantial reward. UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying round draw Pot 1 Greece Netherlands Portugal England Czech Republic France Sweden Pot 2 Germany Croatia Italy Turkey Poland Spain Romania Pot 3 Serbia and Montenegro Russia Denmark Norway Bulgaria Ukraine Slovakia Pot 4 Bosnia-Herzegovina Republic of Ireland Belgium Latvia Israel Scotland Slovenia Pot 5 Hungary Finland Estonia Wales Lithuania Albania Iceland Pot 6 Georgia F.Y.R. Macedonia Belarus Armenia Northern Ireland Cyprus Moldova Pot 7 Liechtenstein Azerbaijan Andorra Malta Faroe Islands Kazakhstan Luxembourg San Marino Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamborghini Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 this is the draw Group C Greece Turkey Norway Bosnia-Herzegovina Hungary Moldova Malta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphoria Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 A favourable draw for us, I'm happy with it :) When is the first match? Im presuming a couple of months after the WC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAOK_001 Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 Can't wait untill the match VS Turkey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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